leading U.S. Jewish columnist said on Monday that he was detained by Israeli authorities at Tel Aviv’s airport and questioned about his political activity, the latest in a series of such incidents.
Peter Beinart, a contributing editor at The Atlantic and a columnist at the liberal Jewish Forward daily, said on Twitter that he had been detained at Israel’s Ben Gurion airport when he arrived for a family visit on Sunday.
In an article in The Forward, Beinart said he was taken into a room at the airport and questioned by an Israeli security official on the reasons for his visit.
“Then the political questions began. Was I involved in any organization that could provoke violence in Israel? I said no. Was I involved in any organization that threatens Israel democracy? I said no — that I support Israeli organizations that employ non-violence to defend Israeli democracy,” he wrote.
Beinart said he was also questioned about a protest he had attended during a previous visit, in the Palestinian city of Hebron in the occupied West Bank. He was released after about an hour, he said.
A few hours after Beinart Tweeted about the incident, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office released an English statement which said:
“Prime Minister Netanyahu heard of Mr. Beinart’s questioning at Ben Gurion airport and immediately spoke with Israel’s security forces to inquire how this happened. He was told it was an administrative mistake,” the statement said.
“Israel is an open society which welcomes all – critics and supporters alike. Israel is the only country in the Middle East where people voice their opinions freely and robustly,” the statement said.
In the past few weeks at least three pro-Palestinian activists arriving in Israel from abroad have said they were detained at the border by Israeli security officials and questioned about their political activity.
]]>https://en.smanews.org/u-s-journalist-questioned-by-israeli-security-authorities/feed0Iran’s Khamenei rejects Trump offer of talks, chides government over economyhttps://en.smanews.org/irans-khamenei-rejects-trump-offer-of-talks-chides-government-over-economy
https://en.smanews.org/irans-khamenei-rejects-trump-offer-of-talks-chides-government-over-economy#respondTue, 14 Aug 2018 03:43:57 +0000https://en.smanews.org/?p=7767SMA News – Agencies

Iran’s Supreme Leader on Monday rejected U.S. President Donald Trump’s offer of unconditional talks to improve bilateral ties and he also accused the Iranian government of economic mismanagement in the face of reimposed U.S. sanctions.
Washington reimposed the sanctions last week after pulling out of a 2015 international deal aimed at curbing Iran’s nuclear program in return for an easing of economic sanctions. Trump has also threatened to penalize companies that continue to operate in Iran.
“I ban holding any talks with America… America never remains loyal to its promises in talks,” said Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who has the final say on policy in the Islamic Republic.
“America’s withdrawal from the nuclear deal is a clear proof that America cannot be trusted,” state TV quoted Khamenei as telling a gathering attended by thousands of Iranians.
The sanctions target Iran’s trade in gold and other precious metals, its purchases of U.S. dollars and its car industry.
Washington had said Iran’s only chance of avoiding the sanctions would be to accept Trump’s offer to negotiate for a tougher nuclear deal. Iranian officials already rejected the offer but it is the first time Khamenei has publicly commented.
But Khamenei ruled out the possibility of war with the United States.
“They (the Americans) are exaggerating the possibility of a war with Iran. There will be no war… We have never started a war and they will not confront Iran militarily,” he said.
Khamenei, whose remarks on Monday come amid a sharp fall in the rial currency that has prompted angry protests, criticized the government of President Hassan Rouhani, a pragmatist cleric who championed the 2015 deal aimed at ending Iran’s political and economic isolation.
“More than the sanctions, economic mismanagement (by the government) is putting pressure on ordinary Iranians… I do not call it betrayal but a huge mistake in management,” state TV quoted Khamenei as saying.
“With better management and more efficient planning we can resist the sanctions and overcome them,” Khamenei said, in an apparent effort to deflect public anger over the deteriorating economy towards Rouhani’s government.
European countries, which still back the 2015 deal, fear Trump’s moves will undermine Rouhani and strengthen the hand of his hardline rivals in the clerical establishment.
The rial has lost about half of its value since April in anticipation of the renewed U.S. sanctions, driven mainly by heavy demand for dollars among ordinary Iranians trying to protect their savings.
Iranian officials have blamed “enemies” for the fall of the currency and a rapid rise in the price of gold coins, and more than 60 people, including several officials, have been arrested on charges that carry the death penalty.
“The corrupt people (officials) should be punished firmly,” Khamenei said on Monday.
Thousands of Iranians have protested in recent weeks against sharp rises in the prices of some food items, a lack of jobs and state corruption. The protests over the cost of living have often turned into anti-government rallies.
Defying U.S. demands to curb its missile program, Iran unveiled a new generation of its “Fateh Mobin” short-range ballistic missile on Monday, state TV reported.
“Our will to enhance our defense power in all fields will increase if the pressure mounts on Iran,” Defence Minister Brigadier General Amir Hatami said after unveiling the “fully home-made precision-guided” missile.
Trump has said Iran must also stop meddling in conflicts in Syria and Yemen, but Foreign Minister Javad Zarif struck a defiant tone on Monday, telling Qatar’s al Jazeera TV: “Iran will not change its policies in the region because of U.S. sanctions and threats.”
]]>https://en.smanews.org/irans-khamenei-rejects-trump-offer-of-talks-chides-government-over-economy/feed0Coordination Commission of the Southern Transitional Council in Canada Meets Canadian Senator Chandra Ariahttps://en.smanews.org/coordination-commission-of-the-southern-transitional-council-in-canada-meets-canadian-senator-chandra-aria
https://en.smanews.org/coordination-commission-of-the-southern-transitional-council-in-canada-meets-canadian-senator-chandra-aria#respondSun, 12 Aug 2018 19:43:02 +0000https://en.smanews.org/?p=7735SMA News – Canada – Exclusive

On Friday August 10th, 2018, Abd Al-Kareem Ahmed Said, vice chairman for foreign affair, and Ghassan Lokman, media and cultural affairs personnel of Coordination Commission of the Southern Transitional Council in Canada, met senator Chandra Aria, as part of political plans to reach governmental and non-governmental bodies in Canada to explain the southern cause and suffering of southern people under the corrupt government of Yemen that is launching a services war (electricity, water and other essentials of human life) against the south.
The meeting discussed all aspects of southern cause under current war and its reflections over both the southern and northern peoples without real solutions to Yemeni crisis based on ground facts and expectations of the southern people to restore his new federal state.
Mr. Aria expressed his understanding for southern demands and indicated that Canad will always support free peoples and advocates human rights to establish international peace and security.
]]>https://en.smanews.org/coordination-commission-of-the-southern-transitional-council-in-canada-meets-canadian-senator-chandra-aria/feed0Anti-government protest in Romania turns violenthttps://en.smanews.org/anti-government-protest-in-romania-turns-violent
https://en.smanews.org/anti-government-protest-in-romania-turns-violent#respondSun, 12 Aug 2018 15:50:03 +0000https://en.smanews.org/?p=7720SMA News – Agencies

Tens of thousands of protesters rallied against the ruling Social Democrat (PSD) government on Friday in cities across Romania and the capital Bucharest where riot police fired tear gas into the crowd and hundreds needed medical attention.
The protests were organized and promoted by groups of Romanians working abroad, angry at what they say is entrenched corruption, low wages and attempts by the PSD to weaken the judiciary in one of the European Union’s most corrupt states.
In Bucharest, some protesters attempted to force their way through security lines guarding the government building. Others threw bottles and rocks at riot police, who said groups of “provocateurs” were present in the square.
As the protest continued well into the night, riot police used a water canon and increasingly sprayed tear gas into the crowd. Video footage posted on social media show police beating non-violent protesters holding their hands up.
More than 400 people required medical assistance, the emergency intervention agency ISU said, including two riot police who got separated from their unit. Tens of thousands staged peaceful protests in other Romanian cities.
Centrist Romanian President Klaus Iohannis condemned the police’s disproportionate use of force.
“I firmly condemn riot police’s brutal intervention, strongly disproportionate to the actions of the majority of people in the square,” he said on his Facebook page.
“The interior ministry must explain urgently the way it handled tonight’s events.”
Among the crowds in Bucharest were truck driver Daniel Ostafi, 42, who moved to Italy 15 years ago in search of a future he says Romania could not offer his family, and Mihai Podut, 27, a construction worker who left in 2014, first for France and later Germany.
They joined tens of thousands outside government headquarters in scorching temperatures, waving Romanian and European Union flags and demanding the cabinet’s resignation. Messages projected on buildings around the square said “We are the people” and “No violence”.
An estimated 3 to 5 million Romanians are working and living abroad, the World Bank has said, up to a quarter of the European Union state’s population, ranging from day laborers to doctors. They sent home just under $5 billion last year, a lifeline for rural communities in one of the EU’s least developed countries.
“I left to give my children a better life, which was not possible here then,” said Ostafi.
“Unfortunately, it is still not possible, the … people who govern us are not qualified and they are corrupt,” he said, adding he hoped the next parliamentary election would see a bigger turnout.
Peaceful protests have repeatedly been held since the Social Democrats took power in early 2017 and tried to decriminalize several corruption offences.
Earlier this year, they pushed changes to the criminal code through parliament that have raised concerns from the European Commission and the U.S. State Department. The changes are pending Constitutional Court challenges.
Romania ranks as one of the EU’s most corrupt states and Brussels keeps its justice system under special monitoring.
Some politicians from the ruling coalition derided the rally in the run up, saying they did not understand why the diaspora would protest.
“Almost all of the public sector is malfunctioning, it must be changed completely and replaced with capable people,” said Podut. “I would ask our ruling politicians to switch places with us, work the way we do and see what that is like.”
]]>https://en.smanews.org/anti-government-protest-in-romania-turns-violent/feed0Iran test-fired anti-ship missile during drills last week: U.S. sourcehttps://en.smanews.org/iran-test-fired-anti-ship-missile-during-drills-last-week-u-s-source
https://en.smanews.org/iran-test-fired-anti-ship-missile-during-drills-last-week-u-s-source#respondSun, 12 Aug 2018 15:38:37 +0000https://en.smanews.org/?p=7718SMA News – Agencies

Iran test-fired a short-range anti-ship missile in the Strait of Hormuz during naval drills last week that Washington believes were aimed at sending a message as the United States reimposes sanctions on Tehran, a U.S. official said on Friday.
The official, however, did not suggest that such a missile test was unusual during naval exercises or that it was carried out unsafely, noting it occurred in what could be described as Iranian territorial waters in the Strait.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards confirmed on Sunday it had held war games in the Gulf over the past several days, saying they were aimed at “confronting possible threats” by enemies.
U.S. Army General Joseph Votel, head of the U.S. military’s Central Command, said earlier this week the scope and scale of the exercises were similar to ones Iran had carried out in the past. But the timing of this particular set of exercises was designed to get Washington’s attention.
“It’s pretty clear to us that they were trying to use that exercise to send a message to us that as we approach this period of the sanctions here, that they had some capabilities,” Votel told reporters at the Pentagon.
Iran has been furious over U.S. President Donald Trump’s decision to pull out of an international agreement on Iran’s nuclear program and re-impose sanctions on Tehran. Senior Iranian officials have warned the country would not easily yield to a renewed U.S. campaign to strangle Iran’s vital oil exports.
Last month, Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei backed President Hassan Rouhani’s suggestion that Iran may block Gulf oil exports if its own exports are stopped.
Votel said the U.S. military was keenly aware of Iran’s military activities.
“We are aware of what’s going on, and we remain ready to protect ourselves as we pursue our objectives of freedom of navigation and the freedom of commerce in international waters,” Votel said.
]]>https://en.smanews.org/iran-test-fired-anti-ship-missile-during-drills-last-week-u-s-source/feed0Markets see more Turkish lira losses – and huge central bank actionhttps://en.smanews.org/markets-see-more-turkish-lira-losses-and-huge-central-bank-action
https://en.smanews.org/markets-see-more-turkish-lira-losses-and-huge-central-bank-action#respondSun, 12 Aug 2018 12:40:24 +0000https://en.smanews.org/?p=7712SMA News – Agencies

Turkey’s lira is in the grip of one of its worst routs of modern times, and markets are sensing more weakness ahead – but also that its central bank will jack up interest rates massively to try to turn the tide.
Roiled by problematic politics, big deficits, double-digit inflation and newly imposed U.S. sanctions, the lira is heading for its worst day, week and month since its financial meltdown of 2001.
The lira slumped 15 percent on the day on Friday, leaving it down more than 40 percent since the start of the year, and as the charts below indicate, there are signs it could lose still more ground.
The modern lira’s biggest-ever slump was a 36 percent drop over roughly six weeks at the height of the 2008-09 global financial crisis. Its current slide, which began roughly last September, now amounts to 46 percent.
Barring a remarkable fightback in coming months, this will be its sixth straight year of losses. It is also the most undervalued of the major emerging currencies in real effective exchange rate (REER) terms, which measure it against the currencies of trade partners, adjusted for inflation.
Technically the lira’s all-time REER low was in October 2001. Renaissance Capital says this equates to 5.16 per dollar in today’s prices. Friday slump took the lira spot rate to 7 per dollar at one point.
Futures, options and derivatives markets are still blinking red for the lira.
The cost of hedging against big lira swings for the next week using volatility options TRYSWO=FN surged to an all time high on Friday. Traders only make money on these if the currency moves by more than the priced level. That points to big moves, though it could be in either direction.
One-year risk reversals TRY1YRR=, a gauge of puts (sells) to calls (buys) on lira and a medium-term measure of the currency’s outlook, are at the highest since 2016.
Shorter-term one-month risk reversals TRY3MRR= indicate even sharper stresses, while one-year forwards TRYFWD= are quoted at a 15 percent premium to the current dollar/lira spot rate.
The signals from Turkey’s interest rate markets are tricky to decipher with any accuracy in the current maelstrom, but the picture that emerges is that a monster rate hike to try and halt the lira slide is being priced in.
Three-month ‘forward starting swaps’, an indicator of what money markets expect to be charging for three month-funding in three months’ time, are 23.8 percent, well up on Turkey’s current central bank main interest rate of 17.75 percent. TRINT=ECI
Central bank “credibility is damaged already so they would have to go big,” said Tilmann Kolb, an analyst in the Chief Investment Office of UBS Wealth Management.
“Something around 500 basis points, perhaps higher, it can’t be the 100 basis points that was talked about before the last central bank meeting. That is now too little, too late. It needs to be massive.”
Turkey is no stranger to emergency rate hikes. It jacked up rates by 300 basis points in May and also cranked them up in a midnight emergency meeting in January 2014 after the lira tumbled more than 7 percent in 10 days – which would barely raise an eyebrow these days.
]]>https://en.smanews.org/markets-see-more-turkish-lira-losses-and-huge-central-bank-action/feed0Aftershock jolts Indonesia’s Lombok as death toll jumps to 259https://en.smanews.org/aftershock-jolts-indonesias-lombok-as-death-toll-jumps-to-259
https://en.smanews.org/aftershock-jolts-indonesias-lombok-as-death-toll-jumps-to-259#respondFri, 10 Aug 2018 00:49:52 +0000https://en.smanews.org/?p=7671SMA News – Agencies

A magnitude 6.2 aftershock rocked Indonesia’s Lombok on Thursday, sparking fresh panic on the tropical tourist island as the official death toll from a powerful earthquake four days earlier almost doubled to 259.
Reuters witnesses reporting on the aftermath of Sunday’s quake in the north of the island said buildings and walls that had already been weakened collapsed, and people ran out onto roads even as rocks tumbled down from hillsides.
“Evacuees and people ran out of houses when they felt the strong shake of the 6.2 magnitude quake,” Sutopo Purwo Nugroho, a spokesman for Indonesia’s disaster mitigation agency (BNPB), said on Twitter. “People are still traumatized. Some buildings were damaged further because of this.”
Officials said the epicenter of the aftershock was on land and so there was no risk of a tsunami.
The United States Geological Survey recorded the latest quake at 5.9, at a depth of 10 km (six miles).
BNPB’s toll of verified deaths from Sunday’s 6.9 magnitude quake was raised on Thursday to 259 from 131.
“This number will continue increasing as rescue teams continue to find victims under collapsed buildings,” the agency said in a statement.
humanitarian crisis is also looming in Lombok, where thousands have been left homeless and in desperate need of clean water, food, medicine and shelter.
Authorities made announcements over loudspeakers at evacuation sites, urging people to remain calm and stay inside tents or find open space if they were inside or near buildings.
“Please stay calm, this is just an aftershock and it will be over soon, there’s no need to be scared,” one official announced.
Officials said about three-quarters of Lombok’s rural north had been without electricity since Sunday, although power had since been restored in most areas before the aftershock. Aid workers have found some villages hard to reach because bridges and roads were destroyed.
Ruslan, a 29-year-old resident of Pemenang on the northwestern shoulder of Lombok, said he had already been anxious about aftershocks before the latest jolt.
“My heart jumps if even the door slams hard. It’s difficult to get used to,” he said. “We are still scared to go into the house. At the most we go in quickly to grab something and then run back out.”
Thousands of tourists have left Lombok since Sunday, fearing further earthquakes, some on extra flights provided by airlines and others on ferries to the neighboring island of Bali.
Indonesia sits on the Pacific Ring of Fire and is regularly hit by earthquakes. In 2004, the Indian Ocean tsunami killed 226,000 people in 13 countries, including more than 120,000 in Indonesia.
]]>https://en.smanews.org/aftershock-jolts-indonesias-lombok-as-death-toll-jumps-to-259/feed0Zimbabwe opposition leader Biti in custody after Zambia deports himhttps://en.smanews.org/zimbabwe-opposition-leader-biti-in-custody-after-zambia-deports-him
https://en.smanews.org/zimbabwe-opposition-leader-biti-in-custody-after-zambia-deports-him#respondFri, 10 Aug 2018 00:46:50 +0000https://en.smanews.org/?p=7668SMA News – Agencies

Zimbabwean police took former finance minister and opposition leader Tendai Biti into custody on Thursday after Zambian authorities rejected his bid for asylum and deported him, his lawyers said.
Police in Zimbabwe were looking for Biti and eight other opposition figures for allegedly fomenting violence following a disputed national election in which President Emmerson Mnangagwa was declared the winner.
“The information we have is that he is now being escorted back to Harare by detectives,” said Alec Muchadehama, one of several Zimbabwean lawyers representing Biti, told Reuters.
Police national spokeswoman Charity Charamba said she had no information on Biti’s case.
Six people were killed last week in an army crackdown on post-election protests against the victory by Mnangagwa’s ruling ZANU-PF party. Mnangagwa’s main rival, opposition leader Nelson Chamisa, has accused the government of clamping down on members of his party.
Biti, whose People’s Democratic Party had formed an election alliance with Chamisa’s Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), had been in hiding since last week and had feared for his life, another of his lawyers, Nqobizitha Mlilo, said.
The outspoken former finance minister finds himself in almost the same situation he was in 2008 when he was arrested for announcing that the late MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai had won a presidential vote.
Official results later showed Tsvangirai beat ex-president Robert Mugabe but not by enough votes to avoid a runoff.
The British embassy in Harare said it was closely following Biti’s case and had spoken to Zimbabwean and Zambian authorities.
“We (and others) are seeking clear assurances from the Zimbabwean authorities that his safety will be guaranteed and constitutional rights fully respected,” the embassy wrote on its Twitter page.
The post-election turmoil is reminiscent of contested elections during the near four-decade rule of Mugabe, who was toppled last November in a de facto military coup.
He was replaced by his former intelligence and defense chief Mnangagwa, who pledged to hold free and fair elections.
Earlier, Biti’s Zambian lawyer Gilbert Phiri said the Zambian High Court on Wednesday night issued an order to stop Biti’s deportation but Zambian immigration and police refused to accept the court papers.
Biti had sought asylum when he tried to enter Zambia through the Chirundu border post, 350 km (220 miles) north of the capital Harare, but his application was rejected.
He was then moved to a school near another border crossing in Kariba before being handed over to Zimbabwean police, Phiri said.
]]>https://en.smanews.org/zimbabwe-opposition-leader-biti-in-custody-after-zambia-deports-him/feed0U.S. can’t be trusted, Iran’s Rouhani tells North Koreahttps://en.smanews.org/u-s-cant-be-trusted-irans-rouhani-tells-north-korea
https://en.smanews.org/u-s-cant-be-trusted-irans-rouhani-tells-north-korea#respondFri, 10 Aug 2018 00:41:48 +0000https://en.smanews.org/?p=7665SMA News – Agencies

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani told North Korea’s foreign minister that the United States cannot be trusted, Tehran’s state media said, as the United States seeks a deal to rein in the North’s nuclear and missile programs.
Iran dismissed a last-minute offer from Washington for talks this week, saying it could not negotiate after the Trump administration reneged on a 2015 deal to lift sanctions in return for curbs on Iran’s own nuclear program.
North Korea’s top diplomat, Ri Yong Ho, visited Iran as the United States reintroduced sanctions against the Islamic Republic.
“The U.S. administration performance in these years has led the country to be considered untrustworthy and unreliable around the world which does not meet any of its obligations,” Rouhani was quoted by the Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA) as telling Ri on Wednesday.
“In the current situation, friendly countries should develop their relations and cooperation in (the) international community,” he said, adding Iran and North Korea have “always had close views” on many issues.
Ri traveled to Tehran after attending a security forum in Singapore, where he and U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo sparred over an agreement made at June’s landmark summit between Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.
The two sides vowed to work toward North Korea’s denuclearization at the summit, but have since struggled to reach a deal to meet that goal. North Korea has been pursuing its weapons programs in defiance of U.N. Security Council resolutions and sanctions.
Ri told Rouhani that Washington’s pullout from the 2015 pact and restoration of sanctions was an “action against international rules and regulations”, IRNA said.
“North Korea’s strategic policy is to deepen relations with the Islamic Republic of Iran and confront unilateralism,” he said.
Trump decided to restore sanctions against Iran despite pleas from other world powers that had co-sponsored the deal, including Washington’s main European allies, Britain, France and Germany, as well as Russia and China.
The sanctions have already led banks and many companies around the world to scale back dealings with Iran. Companies doing business with Iran will be barred from the United States, Trump said on Tuesday.
Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the highest authority in Iran, said the country had nothing to be concerned about, his official website said on Wednesday.
“With regard to our situation do not be worried at all. Nobody can do anything,” Khamenei said, the website reported.
“They can be sure. There is no doubt about this.”
]]>https://en.smanews.org/u-s-cant-be-trusted-irans-rouhani-tells-north-korea/feed0Former city police chief claims role in Venezuela drone attackhttps://en.smanews.org/former-city-police-chief-claims-role-in-venezuela-drone-attack
https://en.smanews.org/former-city-police-chief-claims-role-in-venezuela-drone-attack#respondThu, 09 Aug 2018 07:14:43 +0000https://en.smanews.org/?p=7654SMA News – Agencies

A former Venezuelan municipal police chief and anti-government activist says he helped organize an operation to launch armed drones over a military rally on Saturday that President Nicolas Maduro has called an assassination attempt.
In an interview, Salvatore Lucchese, a Venezuelan activist who was previously imprisoned for his role in past protests, told Reuters he orchestrated the attack with a loose association of anti-Maduro militants known generally in Venezuela as the “resistance.”
The “resistance” referred to by Lucchese is a diffuse collection of street activists, student organizers and former military officers. It has little formal structure, but is known in the country mostly for organizing protests in recent years in which demonstrators have clashed with police and soldiers.
Reuters could not independently verify Lucchese’s claims about the attack, in which drones flew over the rally in central Caracas. Explosives aboard the drones detonated, injuring seven military officers and sending attendees scurrying for cover.
Lucchese described the incident as part of a sustained, armed effort against Maduro. He declined to describe his precise role in the operation, in the broader resistance or identify others involved, citing the need to protect their identity.
“We had an objective and in the moment we were not able to materialize it 100 percent,” Lucchese said in an interview in Bogota, where he is traveling because of activities with other opposition figures. “The armed struggle will continue.”
Venezuela’s Information Ministry did not reply to a request for comment.
Earlier this year, Lucchese parted ways with Popular Will, a prominent opposition party, saying he disagreed with its continued dialogue with Maduro’s administration. The government is widely criticized for authoritarian tactics, human rights abuses and economic policies that have led to recession and malnutrition across the formerly prosperous Andean nation.
Juan Guaido, one of Popular Will’s national leaders, said Lucchese was expelled for “differences with the party and the national leadership” but did not elaborate further.
Guaido also told Reuters Popular Will rejects the use of violence, a position echoed by other mainstream opposition parties in the wake of the attack.
Maduro, who was chosen by late leftist President Hugo Chavez as the Socialist Party candidate to succeed him in 2013, often says Venezuela’s problems are the result of an “economic war” by enemies abroad, including the United States. He blamed the drone attack on right-wing opposition figures and foreign enablers, specifically citing the government of neighboring Colombia.
Colombia’s government has denied any involvement.
Venezuelan authorities over the weekend arrested six people, including one suspect who had been detained for protests in 2014 and another wanted for involvement in a 2017 military base attack. The government said the drones carried plastic explosives detonated remotely.
Saturday’s blasts, which shook television footage from the rally and rattled nearby buildings, differed from previous suggestions by Maduro’s government of pending attacks against it. Maduro and top aides have spoken of foiled assassination and coup plots in the past, but provided little evidence for them.
Now, it remains unclear exactly how organized or equipped armed opponents may be.
A little-known group called the National Movement of Soldiers in T-Shirts over the weekend also claimed responsibility for the drone attack. It, too, describes itself as part of the “resistance.”
Lucchese declined to say whether he is associated with Soldiers in T-Shirts. A member of the group, who declined to be identified by name, in an exchange with Reuters via a messaging platform declined to comment on Lucchese.
The 52-year-old activist first drew attention after being jailed for ten months starting in 2014 for refusing to break up anti-Maduro protests. As police chief of the municipality of San Diego, in central Carabobo state, he disobeyed Interior Ministry orders to clear demonstrators, Lucchese said.
His account of the arrest and jail sentence is supported by a ruling on his conviction published by Venezuela’s Supreme Court at the time.
The government released Lucchese at the end of his sentence in February 2015, according to Lucchese and local media reports. Reuters could not find government documentation of his release.
Lucchese told Reuters he left Venezuela for an undisclosed location last August, after learning the government sought his arrest once more, this time for treason and inciting military rebellion. The warrant was widely reported by Venezuelan media in recent months, but Reuters was unable to review a copy of it.
Lucchese said he now resides abroad and continues to work with other anti-Maduro activists, stressing that armed resistance is the only way to topple Maduro. “No dictator leaves power peacefully,” he told Reuters.
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